Biodegradable Food Packaging

RESEARCH

RESEARCH INFERENCE

  • Food packaging materials include paperboard, bio-polymer, bio-composite and plastic.
  • Companies favor fold-able packaging due to storage space constraints.
  • A large number of food packaging is done using paper with a layer of PFAs.
  • The local restaurants usually use clamp shaped packaging.
  • Most of the times, the storage boxes prove to be bigger for the amount of food the customer has ordered.

AIM

In many restaurants, it is observed that the food packed occupies much less space than that provided in the box. This leads to disposal and wastage of unused material. 

I, therefore, aim to minimize this wastage through package design. 

CONCEPTUAL SKETCHES + IDEATION

MATERIAL + PROTOTYPING

CHALLENGES + POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

  • The challenge faced during vacuum forming any mould with slots is the undercuts. To avoid undercuts in this case, the mould was cut through so that after vacuum forming the mould could be released without damaging the material.
  • The mould is to be cut such that a part of it could slip off and the remaining part (with slots) could be snapped out.
  • In the initial design, the blind holes were not formed completely i.e they would get punctured if played with and would also not fit into one another. Thus, the structure of the ‘leggo’ joint needed to be changed.
  • So, in place of the blind holes, a rectangular blind slot was added to enhance stability. Despite drilling through the slot to improve vacuum forming, it could not form the perfect sharp edged rectangle.
  • The next step would be to strengthen the slot across its diagonal and to deepen the slot dimensions.
  • The challenge with the slots would be the slight flimsiness and thinness of the material. This could be overcome by continues but smooth texture transitions.